Welcome to @unlettered-heathen's yarncraft sideblog! I've crocheted for 10+ years, am learning knitting and learning to weave on my 16" Ashford loom. You can find posts about my projects in the tag #heathen abominations
every once in a while you will come across a designer who really runs with it, makes it their mission to showcase exactly what one can do with knitting
Scalindra
Sun King
Fairly Squarely
Thrills with Frills
Da Vinci Wings
Tassel Dazzle
Helix Felicis
Batman & Robin
Wizard Lizard
Lindworm
That's not even all of them. I'm not a huge fan of the term fibre art but this really is it. Wearable art. Look at the geometry of it all! The structure, the chaos, the whimsy! God I love modular knitting
She has lots of very fun socks as well, and even a couple of cowls and fingerless gloves. Go look at her page immediately.
In the third stitch from the red chain, ch 10
skip 2 st, 8 hdc [8]
slst and cut off extra yarn, weave in from behind
Head (green yarn) - 00:31:00
R1: ch 14, slst in the first ch making a circle
R2: ch1, hdc2tog, 10 dc, hdc2tog, slst ch 2 [12]
R3 dcinc, 2 dc, 6hdc, 2dc, dcinc, slst ch 2 [14]
R4: 2 dc, 3 hdc, 4sc, 3 hdc, 2 dc, slst ch 1 [14]
Cut off yarn
Upper lip - 00:40:15
At the 5th st from the head, insert green yarn
R1: ch2, dcinc, 6dc, dcinc [10]
R2: ch2, turn dc2tog, 6dc, dc2tog [8]
R3: ch2, turn dc2tog, 4dc, dc2tog [6]
R4: ch2, turn dc2tog, 2dc, dc2tog [4]
ch1, cut off extra yarn
Lower lip - 00:47:44
R1: ch1, 6 hdc [6]
R2: ch1, turn hdc2tog, 2hdcdc, hdc2tog [4]
ch 1 turn
Attach red mouth piece and tongue by sc in every stitch, slst,
Cut off extra yarn and weave in
Stuff in
Eyes (white yarn) x2 - 00:53:40
R1: MR, 6sc in MR [6]
R2: slst, ch1, 6 sc [6]
slst and cut off extra yarn
Glue on eyes and heads for pupils
Attach head and tail at opposite ends,
Put stitch marker 4 st away from each direction for limbs
Legs x4 - 01:01:24
ch7, slst, skip 1 st st, 2 slst, (ch2, skip 1st st , 2 slst) *2, 4 sc, slst
Cut off and weave in yarn
Abbreviations + additional links under the cut
Abbreviations
R1 = Row 1
MR = magic ring
ch = chain
st = stitch
slst = slip stitch
sc = single crochet
dc = double crochet
hdc = half double crochet
inc = increase
dec = decrease
dc2tog = double crochet 2 together (used for decreasing)
hdc2tog = half double crochet 2 together (used for decreasing)
[12] = the amount of stitches you should get for that row (especially for increase/decrease instructions)
See this article about the abbreviations + video showing how to do a magic ring: https://catherinecrochets.com/what-does-mr-mean-in-crochet/
Another article about abbreviations : https://joyofmotioncrochet.com/crochet-abbreviations-and-terms/
Here's another article, showing some of the differences between USA vs UK abbreviations: https://peacefulcrochet.com/us-vs-uk-terms/
Just bought 9 skeins of dark navy worsted (probably too much tbh) and 500 glow-in-the-dark star-shaped pony beads for my after-surgery recovery project :) If I'm gonna be forced to stay home for like a month and a half with limited ability to walk, you'd better believe I'm gonna plan a major project XD
Turning this gorgeous shawl pattern into a blanket for my daughter:
Celestarium is an accurate view of the night sky from the North Pole in the form of a pi shawl. It is the sister shawl to Southern Skies an
crazy how tying the specific knots you want to make in fibercraft is so painstakingly difficult and easy to fuck up but if you take your eyes off yarn for four seconds it’s somehow finagled itself into several Interlocking Double Loop Fwip Form Uber Nooses when you weren’t looking. insufferable!
What kind of sorcery is this?! I can never turn more than 10 cards in sequence because they just refuse to cooperate and you have like, what, 35? 40?! HOW?!?!
40 in the tree strap above! The most I ever tried was 44 for this ramshorn strap below - that was tough, but also ok because the groups turned separately? I think my hands would murder me if I tried to go any higher on my backstrap setup though ;) I think the trick is maintaining appropriate tension!
@diamondot speaking for myself, i just decided to learn it one day a few years ago (i had a viking phase ok) and simply started with it. It's surprisingly easy since all the info is available on the net. Honestly, i don't remember where i started since it has been so long ago and now i just browse pinterest for patterns alone. Google tablet weaving or card weaving (same thing, different names) patterns and some basic explanations and yt vids for how to turn and weave the stuff. Things like
S and Z threading are there for a reason, so mind your card orientation. Start with some easy pattern like simple wave or diamonds above, 6 - 10 cards are good for your first project. Don't lose hope in initial stage. Streching and threading all that yarn can take anything between 20 minutes and 3 hours depending on how big is the pattern and how skilled you are. Since you need some lenghts to secure ends and to turn cards, use about 40 cm more than wished lenght of your final product. Secure lose ends after threading through cards so you won't end with a bundled mess. Streching/knotting them to something is one way. Taping each card threads together or using weights (check pictures below) is another way (good only for shorter stuff though). Cards could be made out of anything as long as they have smooth edges and rounded corners. Cardboard, thicker plastic sheet, literal cards cut into squares with holes punched through them, whatever. These are mine 2 decks, minus cards i am using atm.
When you start weaving and pattern looks like a total mess, try turning cards in opposite directions. It usualy solves the problem (all that forward/backward can be a bit tricky and mirroring motions/patterns/card orientation can be confusing at first seemingly messing all your work even though you are doing everything right technicaly, just in opposite order/direction). Don't lose your hope. I still manage to mess up like first 5cm of every other work i start. It's not an issue as that start usualy gets cut off anyway (the tension is not right for at least first 4 rows, aka 1 full card rotation, until all threads go up and down at least once no matter what you do. Don't sweat it). You don't need any fancy startup either. Historicaly, people used to weave like this and this and this:
I just strech the thing between 2 chairs myself. Door knobs work as well and so does staircase railing. Wherever you have some space. Long hair clips are your friend, especialy when you are done with weaving for the day and you don't want stuff to tangle
Hi. I may be late to reply but i'm in a weaving mood so here we are.
The thing is that the technique looks complicated due to the fact that there is 100 something and that number alone is scary. But. Actually several buts.
But number 1 - the technique is OLD. Meaning - while being somewhat tedious just like any other textile craft, it has been used and learned for a long long time and there's plenty of resources (check out links above or any youtube video explaining the process) of varying difficulty from complicated af to easy peasy lemon squeezy with closed eyes
But number 2 - there is only one core principle/step you need to understand and that is when some threads go from up to down or from down to up (aka when they cross), you need another thread going in between so they won't simply snap back again. That's it. That's the basic principle behind every weaving ever. What card weaving does compared to standard weave is that instead of a single thread going up and down in the single row, you get 2 or 3 or 4 or 6 or whatever number of threads your pattern calls for in the same row
But number 3 - the number of rows = number of cards. Simple as that. Cards turn around to make a cord like when you are twisting 2 or 4 or whatever numbers of threads to make a rope. If some of those threads have different colours, you get a repeating pattern.
But number 4 - card orientation or S/Z orientation or whatever other fancy name for the twisting direction simply means that if you turn all your card in the same way at the same time, which one of them will make the twisted rope in this / angle and which one will do that in this \ angle. That's it. That's the whole mystery between S/Z threading.
But number 5 - you can start with as little as 4 cards to make a custom set of shoe laces or a key strap or whatever and call yourself a weaver. Because you did that. And it was nice. And it was easy. You just turn and thread and turn and thread and then you keep repeating this while watching a movie or something. There's no need for the math finals level of concentration here.
But number 5 - no one, literally NO ONE starts with a pattern like this
No. Everybody starts with something like this
Keep it simple, keep it easy, make 10cm and be done if you want to. It's perfectly fine.
But number 6 - you don't need any fancy items for starting. No hooks, no needles, no loom, no anything. If you have 2 balls of yarn in different color or some remains of your old cross stitch project or whatever and some card-like stuff you won't be sad for making holes in it, you are all set. Back side of the sketch pad is good. Poker cards cut to squares are good. A sturdy enough sheet of plastic is also good. You remember that old pexeso pairs stack you didn't touch since you were 9? Guess what!
My point is that if this looks like something you may be interested in, then you can absolutely try doing it for literally zero cost other than your time.
technically reversible, tho the back isnt an EXACT mirror. not sure yet how to handle the buckle/closure but we will burn that bridge when we get there, amirite lads?
@goldkirk hi i don't know exactly what to say so i'm just infodumping lol
SO. i've been building my own patterns because i can't for the life of me find any funky fandom patterns (pls god link me if you, reader, know of any). but anyway, the way tablet weaving works is that each card/tablet has ~four strands of thread, and one strand will be visible on each side, so one on the front of the piece and one on the back. if you look at my pattern here:
^^^this little grid at the bottom is how many cards i have (25) and how they're threaded. this, plus the way you turn the cards (forward or backward quarter turns, and how many of each) dictates which threads will be visible for each stitch. threading explains which colors go in which holes in the cards, and also which way they go through the card, like whether they go in from front to back or back to front. this is all important because it affects which color each stitch is, and which direction they "twist".
you can see the twist really clearly when a band is first made, but they do tend to straighten a little with use. but! here are some earlier red hood pattern tests, with fewer cards. on the left, take a specific look at the ears--see how they look almost like they're facing the wrong direction? that's the twist. to fix that, you can thread your card the other direction. the ears are fixed in the one on the right.
the real fun, imo, is when you get to turning. my turning pattern for the big belt looks like this:
which accounts for how many cards to turn each way to change the warp (the long threads that form the colors of the pattern, aka columns if you were looking at it in grid form) between passes of the weft (the rows of the grid, which get hidden inside the threads of the warp but are really important to keep it in its place).
when i first started making the little red hood symbols, i didn't have a real good red hood red (it's a little blue-tinted rip) but i bought a good red specifically for this pattern, and i discovered during some tests that i could make one side almost a perfect mirror of the other (i say almost because it would require the colors to be in twos, and i wanted those sharp one-thread points at the tail and ears). so the back side looks like this:
a liiiiitle funky, but definitely recognizable!
anyway! for anyone who wants to try the pattern, if y'all exist, you have pretty much everything you need here. i do suggest using a weft that's slightly thinner than your warp threads so that the pattern doesn't stretch weirdly, and pls do tests first (don't be me, don't test on your long warp).
also here's a picture of the cat helping with my mess of 100 warp threads:
I AM SCREAMING!!! THIS IS SO GOOD!! I have just started tablet weaving and was SO sad when the only thing I could find geeky wise for Batman was a (very cute) Batman little dude pattern rather than a logo. And since my brocading efforts were a fail for now Id kinda given up on geeky patterns for a minute. You are INSPIRING me though. I shall reblog if I make it (and follow this post in the hopes that someone has a whole database of superhero logo patterns lmao)
I also have a Mario one up mushroom pattern I found, I'll link both tomorrow when I'm in front of the computer.
Oop I forgot to put the patterns in yesterday, sorry! --
https://twistedthreads.org/user/c2KJ8M7DCce9R74TN/patterns?page=1 -- Turns out they were all by the same user -- so just linking to the user's page - some DC, some mario, etc. I haven't woven any of them to give personal notes/reviews, but they do look adorable!
I DEF NEEDED THIS. i'm in the find out part of the fuck around and find out LMFAO. trying to figure out how the hell to stop this shit from unraveling and every tutorial about band weaving in existence is like "just stop weaving :)" which is NOT helpful oh my GOD.
thinking like....... maybe i can sew down the ends with the sewing machine set to a wide zig zag, big chop, and then put some glue on the ends? OR, alternatively, maybe i can chop, fold, and THEN sew
Oh oh oh I can help with this a little (so sorry the tutorial only comes in video form, i'm sure there are good written ones I just haven't found them yet!)
There's two ways you can handle looping the weft back in that I know of, one that involves pull loops, and the other where you literally just take a tapestry needle and feed the long end of the weft in.
For the 'pull loops', basically take something a bit finer than your warp, and feed in loops with the last few rows of weaving, then thread the 'tail' of your warp through each loop, tug on the loop to pull the weft back through. Do that for a few rows, and it's going to be quite stable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-m3diLOJ2I (Loop method)
I've seen others sew with some fraycheck, do a zigzag, hemstitch, etc (Hemstitch works best if you're to have at least a short fringe in my limited experience; you could do that and cover the fringe with something, but is also good for securing before you do the fold'n'sew, esp if you do it in something finer.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-m3diLOJ2I (This also has a howto on the 'loops' method if you want an all in one)
AHAHAHA okay funny enough I did TRY to do the loops method, but i accidentally broke my weft on the first loop so I couldn't do the rest of them. so it's like.... it's IN there, but not very far, so I'm nervous about it, and I can't sew it in any further.
there are belt tips you can find online/in craft stores that will cover the end of a canvas/woven belt, but I was hoping to secure it better before i try a tip, so maybe I'll look into some of these other options
oh balls, no i did not mean to post the same link twice, thank you for catching that!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdqgbfy1oIQ
There we go -- (Sewing machines and I do not get along, so I cannot fully vouch, but I've used other of their tutorials that have gone well)
That suuuuuuuucks on the weft breakage :(
Well my loves, it appears as though the answer to "Can the Big Pattern Company (Simplicity/Burda/McCalls/ect.) survive the death of JoAnn?" has come.
The answer is no. No it cannot. It has been sold to a liquidator just like JoAnns was.
So if there is ANYTHING you want I suggest you get it now. simplicity.com is currently having a pattern sale and I snatched up some that might be useful for cosplay purposes.
I am very glad these last couple of years I have built up my collection.
Links to some of the adaptive clothing patterns on the Simplicity website:
Shirts that unsnap at the collar and arm for port access
Walker bags
Wheelchair bags
Imitation button-downs that actually fasten up the back with hook and eye closure, for people with limited mobility who still want to look nice
Fidget page. I know quilters often enjoy making these!
If you search the website for “Adaptive” there’s about 12 of these altogether. I don’t sew much but I might pick up a few just so I have them on hand if I or someone I know needs something like this. And as OP says, they’re on sale!
due to me being tired i'm posting the first half of the tutorial (making a hidden pouch) now. i will post the rest of the tutorial (making and attaching the peen and insert) later, probably tomorrow.
this tutorial will have visual guides drawn by yours truly 🩷
Did a little experimental fiber prep with a DIY hackle (two hair combs screwed to a piece of wood). It worked surprisingly well - I can get about 8 grams of fiber per hackle load. I used some leftover Corriedale to make some self-striping top, spun it up and combined it with more Corriedale from the advent calendar to knit into fingerless mitts.
